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Journal Ethelred Unraed's Journal: The Mac is banned by DMCA!!!11!!!11!oneoneone!! 16

Journal by Ethelred Unraed

One of my presents today was Sarah McLachlan's CD Afterglow -- what can I say, I have a weakness for female Canucks, unless her name is Celine or she used to have to shave (sorry, Tom). So I eagerly started to unwrap the CD...and noticed on the back that it's copy-protected.

Shit. First time I've had one (seriously -- I'm such an old fart already that most of the CDs I like have "Nice Price" stickers on them, which means in translation "only idiots like you would buy this, therefore we're practically giving it away because we're desperate to get rid of them, and by the way the manager that ordered these CDs be printed up has been shot"). I'd heard somewhere that DRM-protected CDs don't get along with Macs too well, which would really suck for me, because that's what I use to listen to my music (either through headphones or piped into my old stereo).

Of course, there is a slight irony that a CD containing a song whose video's proceeds went to various Third World charities would be copy-protected. (Though I will say she looks damn fine without all the makeup.) But I digress.

Anyway, the table on the back of the CD says:

Playability on:
CD Audio Home (y)
PC, min. Win 95/64 MB RAM, Pentium II 233 (y)
Mac (-)

Well, shit.

But I thought, hey, pop it in and see what happens.

CD appears on the desktop (as two sessions, one of which is the DRM player), up comes iTunes, and I start merrily ripping, while as I type, World On Fire is seeping through my headphones to warm my widdle heart.

WTF? Does this mean the Mac is a DRM circumvention device and jackbooted RIAA Gestapo will be busting my door d
---NO CARRIER---

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The Mac is banned by DMCA!!!11!!!11!oneoneone!! More

The Mac is banned by DMCA!!!11!!!11!oneoneone!!

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  • There was that batch of CD's that will try to install software using the autorun functionality on Windows that can be defeated by the shift key. You probably have one of those and the Mac simply ignores it altogether.

    DRM remains only a hinderance to those who want to obey the law.
    • There was that batch of CD's that will try to install software using the autorun functionality on Windows that can be defeated by the shift key. You probably have one of those and the Mac simply ignores it altogether.

      Ah, upon closer inspection you appear to be right -- the first session on the CD contains an autorun.inf (hmmm, does *.inf mean "infection"?) file, along with some .exe files, including a player.

      Still, it strikes me as odd, not to say stupid, to strongly imply on the label that the CD isn't

      • You didn't break the law. The audio files were available to you, so you didn't circumvent anything.

        I am convinced they claim it doesn't work on a Mac just to avoid support calls. So make some support calls, just to piss them off.

        • I am convinced they claim it doesn't work on a Mac just to avoid support calls. So make some support calls, just to piss them off.

          Better, initiate the call in English, and when he gets high enough, switch to German. ...or he could just lead them on, and when they ask where he's calling from, tell them. Maybe they'll help, maybe they won't.

          Of course, all this is best done if he can get a 1-800 number (and use it from Germany!), because it would be their dime....
      • Funnily enough, I didn't intentionally break the law (if I broke it at all -- which is uncertain anyway because I'm not in America, and the law's a bit different here, with the "right to copy for personal use" still notionally protected).

        You might be American, but on European soil, you have to comply with European laws. In your case meaning German laws. If that wouldn't be the case, you'd have to drive 55mph on the highway, eh?

        Alas, the EUCD [wikipedia.org] has been implemented in Germany. Oddly enough I remember

        • You might be American, but on European soil, you have to comply with European laws. In your case meaning German laws.

          Normally that is the case, but jurisdiction in the Internet is a bit of a grey area. German law is also a bit strange, because while Germany had to implement the EU's Copyright Directive, German courts have protected the "right to copy" for personal, non-commercial purposes (which would seem to go against the letter of the directive, which states point-blank that authors have sole control

          • Okay, let's forget the "US/European" law abiding stuff on the Internet. I'm not competent enough to be able to hold a coherent conversation on the subject.

            However, I do know something: I listened quite carefully to the news report about the law the passed. They indeed said that it was still legal to copy and share CD's with your friends. They also said that it was illegal to distribute it over P2P on the internet. What they finally *did* say, was that breaking the copy protection is illegal. So, you

    • *was*

      Uh? No, pretty much all new Audio CDs come with them these days. At least in Europe.

      HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Servi c es\Cdrom\AutoRun=0".

      One of the first thing I do after a fresh windows installation. Autorun has absolutely no use if you actually know what you do with your PC. It's not only CD's these days. My sister rented "Mr. & Mrs Smith" and wanted to play it on her computer. DRM, my friend, DRM... messing up the whole experience. It also has a DRM rootkit [eweek.com] in it

  • On CNN this moening they mentioned the eclipse and my first thought was, Its Eth's birthday! That and wondering how many people were looking directly at as it happened...

  • Yup (Score:2)

    by ryanr ( 30917 ) *
    The DMCA requires that you be a dumbass, and double-click the DRM rapeware. Please comply immediately, and supply your password for system access. You might need to install VirtualPC.
  • ...I don't expect ANYONE in the music business to get technology right.
  • ...They want their "NO CARRIER" joke back. :) Happy Birthday!
  • Hope you have a nice one.

    And I don't think the DMCA will be a problem once you can order the MPAA & RIAA into shackles for life. You were planning on ordering them into shackles, weren't you? ;-)

  • What's the saying, noone expects the Inquisition ... but can't your immense imperial powers be put to use against that?

    Have fun!

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